“There is a risk of injuring a fragile psyche” – Kommersant FM

“Fairytale elections” will be held in Russian educational institutions. As part of the new patriotic lessons “Conversations about what matters,” students will be asked to elect the president of an imaginary country. Karabas-Barabas, Cinderella, Alice the Fox, Baba Yaga and Winnie the Pooh will compete for the high position. Before choosing the winner, children will listen to a special address by the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova. Kommersant FM political commentator Dmitry Drize is not sure of the effectiveness of such trainings.

A memorable date is being celebrated in Russia – 30 years since the creation of the Central Election Commission. This, of course, is not exactly a reason for great celebrations. But the department is important, one might even say key, because it maintains the legitimacy of Russian state power. But, as we know, the enemy does not sleep and does not give up trying to compromise our Central Election Commission in every possible way, which is also why the Central Election Commission is working to improve its image in the eyes of the masses.

And so a creative decision was made: to lay down knowledge about the essence of the electoral process right from childhood, from junior high school. To do this, young voters, as part of the new mandatory patriotic lesson “Talking About Important Things,” are invited to play a game called “Presidential Elections in a Fairytale Land.”

Five candidates are competing for the highest government post: Karabas-Barabas, Cinderella, Alice the Fox, Baba Yaga and Winnie the Pooh. Everyone has a program, but the most preferable one is probably Cinderella’s, because she is for the family hearth and for working for the common good. All the rest are clearly guilty of the wrong kind of populism.

Only here’s the problem: except for Baba Yaga, no one has the right to be included on the ballot; rather, they can be included on another one – foreign agents. They are not of Russian origin. So Cinderella is actually Cinderella. Or Zamarashka in the Russian translation by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. By the way, such revelations are not excluded within the framework of the election campaign – a real, adult one.

Speaking to the point, such creative approaches raise questions. Because there will be someone who will say: in the elections we already have nothing but wizards and fairy-tale reincarnations.

The carriage turns into a pumpkin, and the beautiful pages turn into gray mice. And in general, our life is not a complete fairy tale, although it is not clear with what ending. This is the first thing. Secondly, it used to be that elections were for adults. Politics is a serious thing to be immersed in right from childhood. There is a risk of traumatizing a fragile psyche.

It’s not without reason that they say: what is laid down in childhood is postponed for the rest of your life. A citizen will grow up with the idea of ​​“fairy-tale elections,” but the problem is that in the real world, Cinderellas are extremely rare, and Karabas-Barabas and Alice Foxes are quite common, unfortunately.

So, in theory, it would be right to first teach adults political literacy, saying that elections are a great responsibility and a civic duty, and not just “check the right box and be free.” However, for some reason no one educates adults. Apparently, they didn’t come up with a fairy tale for them.

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